Adolphe Binder – Landgraf on Dance

“Masurca Fogo”
Tanztheater Wuppertal
Opera House
Wuppertal, Germany
October 02, 2026

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

The last time I saw the Tanztheater Wuppertal on their home stage was in 2014, five years after Pina Bausch’s untimely death. Gloom weighed on the Opera House. Its artistic heart had stopped beating, and tight finances worsened the outlook.

Longstanding members kept the company going; Dominique Mercy and Robert Sturm, and later Lutz Förster, stepped in as interim artistic directors. In 2017, outside expertise should have revived the company. Adolphe Binder, former artistic director of the Komische Oper Berlin’s dance theater and the Danskompanie Göteborg, was engaged but left after only one year due to differences with management. Continue reading “Resilient”

“Sleeping Woman”
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
Opera House
Wuppertal, Germany
July 02, 2021 (online)

Pina Bausch was the heart of Tanztheater Wuppertal – and since her premature death in 2009, the company has struggled to find new leadership to shape its artistic future. The termination of Adolphe Binder’s contract as intendant and artistic director in 2018 – after only one year in office – was followed by a two-year lawsuit between her and the theater. Although Binder won the suit (and the matter was settled out of court), Binder waived her claim to the post, making way for Bettina Wagner-Bergelt. Continue reading ““And I Have So Much to Say, But…””